The Columbia Affair
by Basic Cadet
Summary: Columbia, a city in the sky attracts the attention of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon. And Jack Ryan and his Colleagues participates in the strangest of operations that the Agency had launched.
1. The Columbia File

Jack Ryan had to stay late tonight in his office in Langley. The Deputy Director (Intelligence) of the Central Intelligence Agency sighed as he glanced at his wristwatch. He was currently reading the summary about the latest CAPER transmission of the Agency in their surveillance inside the Medellin Cartel in Colombia. It was the last document before he could finally go home tonight. Satisfied with what he had read, he deposited the file in his drawer and locked it. He went for his gray jacket and retrieved his briefcase. Jack then left his office and on his way to the parking lot. He met an odd couple, male and female, possibly in their thirties and both wore green jackets and neckties. The woman wore a long brown skirt and the man wore trousers of the same color. When he is about to pass them by the woman approached Jack and said,

"Good evening Mr. Ryan, I'm sorry for troubling you this late hour but we have to give you this file. It's very important sir..."

Jack then curtly received a folder then reminded them,

"Okay, next time submit your reports earlier got it? You two are lucky to catch me. Good night."

The Luteces watched Jack Ryan leave before proceeding to where their car was parked. Robert then asked,

"It's remarkable how he immediately accepted it. Would he believe it however?"

"He would, the document was excellently made."

"Comstock would not expect this. I wonder how would things go?"

"No, the delicious question would be when?"

"It is amazing that we could do a lot of things when working in the CIA..."

"I'm afraid much of it does not apply to the rest of its employees."

"I think it is time for us to leave..."

"I agree, it is getting late."

"I will be driving our car tonight."

"Is driving better than rowing?"

"It's a wonderful activity..."

"Driving?"

"Yes it is a wonderful activity."

Robert concluded as he opened the doors of his sedan, first for his twin and then for himself before driving their way home.

On another car, Ryan started to browse the contents of the folder and muttered,

"So this is the Flying City that attacked New York in '84... Columbia... I need to see the Director tommorrow..."


	2. Briefings

Jack Ryan came back to Langley the following morning. He went to the briefing room and found Bob Ritter and "Judge" Arthur Moore. Then there are other unusual faces the odd couple, John Clark, Domingo Chavez and Carlos Larson and Colonel Paul Johns. Ryan sat down and the briefing was started by Judge Moore himself.

"Gentlemen yesterday afternoon, we had an interesting development that happened right here in the skies of United States. Mr. Larson here along with Mr. Clark and Mr. Chavez had spotted the Columbia in about a hundred miles East of Baltimore while flying a Beechcraft. A few hours later, it was picked up by the radar of an E-3 Sentry from the Air Force and its last sighting was that of Colonel Johns in his Pave Low. And if you open those folders it says that this is the same thing that attacked New York in '84, fortunately it was beaten back by our Air National Guard units in the area."

Moore continued after pausing for a second,

"The current information about Columbia came from our "Special Consultants" Mr. Robert and Ms. Rosalind Lutece. These two have been working for the Agency for quite a long time. They'll brief you about Columbia..."

Jack Ryan read the contents of the folder while Rosalind Lutece was briefing the men. Columbia was a flying city completed in 1893 and was funded by the US Congress during that time. During that time and until the mid 1910s, Columbia was ruled by a man named Zachary Hale Comstock and later by her daughter Elizabeth Comstock.

Ryan continued to read the file and was impressed by the detail of the report. It included the military strength of Columbia, their industry and more background about the city as if these Luteces where CIA field officers.

"Ritter must be proud of these two. It would be good to have them in my department also..."

The Deputy Director (Intelligence) thought. Meanwhile Jack saw Larson and Colonel Johns quietly talking to each other, the two pilots were trying to figure out how a city could fly. The rest were attentive and Jack continued to listen to Rosalind's briefing,

"...Ms. Comstock had attacked New York once but they shall do it again. She and The Founders wanted to how I would say this, "Burn the Sodom Below". And I suggest that she could only be stopped by either destroying Columbia from the sky or taking it back, since it had been an American territory."

Colonel Johns raised his hand and asked,

"Destroying this place is a piece of cake for the Air Force. We got B-52s and other bombers for that stuff; a nuke is out of the question. But there are civilians on that city and taking it back? Are you saying that we're going to invade Columbia? That's pretty tough job ma'am it's 15,000 ft in the air and that'll give us and the troops a hard time going in there and going in by chopper would be difficult because of the thin air, so we're left with the option of using paratroopers for this job but still, the altitude is a problem. What are going to do then?

Rosalind answered,

"Columbia lowered its altitude when it attacked New York Colonel Johns. That could be an opportunity to get troops there and Columbia's atmosphere is different, it could support normal life in 15,000 ft so it would not be a problem to those that will be sent there, and in case Comstock decides to raise the city It will take some time before it could climb to its proper altitude."

The Colonel nodded in agreement. The meeting adjourned a few minutes later and they decided to head to the Pentagon to discuss the military side of the mission to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The meeting took 2 more hours and after that the CIA and the Pentagon had created a joint operation named Operation HOTLINE.


	3. Provocation

Two days after the briefing, USCGC Panache was cruising one hundred miles off the coast of Maine. It was a just regular day for the men aboard the cutter. Moderate sea, cloudy weather and light rain. The cutter's Captain, Red Wegener was standing on the bridge is having an easy day. But he remembered that a similar incident happened on a situation like this a few months ago. The skipper just dismissed the thought as he took a sip from his mug of coffee. Just then Chief Quarter Master Portagee Oreza called out,

"We have a radar blip about two miles north of us. This one's unidentified skipper, there's not much activity for the past few days in this area sir."

"Druggie?"

Wegener asked in response. Then Ensign Walters said as she looked through her binoculars,

"It, looks like a blimp sir, and it's closing in..."

Oreza confirmed it,

"The radar blip's half a mile sir. Should I ask-"

Just then a huge splash was seen in the port side of the ship. Wegener was alerted and asked,

"What the Hell was that?"

Then another splash was seen close to the starboard section of the ship. Wegener called the men to battle stations. The ship's Bofors 40mm cannon and .50 Caliber M2 Brownings were readied to fight the threat. Wegener said to his crew,

"Alright folks this is the skipper speaking, it seems that this unknown aircraft is attacking us and that means it's also attacking the United States. Gun crews you're permitted to return fire. Out"

Wegener then said to his bridge crew,

"I have the Conn. Miss Walters call in the Air National Guard on this one. This looks like 'Nam again..."

Quarter Master Oreza nodded in agreement. The ship shook. Wegener looked out to see that giant fireballs were being fired at his ship. He then made evasive action and the ship now returned fire. When Ensign Walters had finished her call, she shouted to Wegener.

"Sir, Air Support will be here in ten minutes. They say the description of the enemy aircraft is the same as the one that attacked New York in '84. Oh and USS New Jersey is also coming in for backup in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you Miss Walters, that's some good news."

Wegener replied, The Captain was unprepared for this, but he knew how skippers during the Second World War, Korea, and Vietnam had handled their ships when being attacked from the air and the skipper noted that the ship's weapons came from that period and were now serving their intended purpose. Meanwhile his crew were busy. Many of them were afraid but some show excitement. Mostly they say it's the Soviets are attacking the US and It's the start of World War 3 while others dismissed it and said it was heavily armed drug dealers flying the airship yet everyone worked hard in keeping the cutter afloat and fighting the airship especially the gunners.

"Damn, so this is what it feels like when my Dad fought the Japs in Leyte Gulf!"

Machinist's Mate Third Obrecki shouted. He had already spent a can of ammunition earlier on the airship and is rapidly reloading a second one. Then he pulled the charging handle and started shooting again. Then he saw another airship and shifted his fire on its cockpit then he was splashed with seawater when another fire ball had landed in the water next to his position. Then he heard the welcoming sound of jet engines. It was F-4 Phantoms from the Air National Guard. Obrecki cheered as he saw them fly overhead and launch their Sidewinder missiles at the airships. One of the airships was going down into the water and Obrecki shifted his fire on another airship when he dropped his jaw in surprise when he saw another trio of airships about to perform an attack run on the Coast Guard Cutter. Just then they were fired upon by the anti-aircraft battery of 20mm and 40mm guns of the USS New Jersey. One more airship went down and the rest turned away and retreated. Red Wegener gave the order to cease fire but the guns were still trained on the fleeing airships. It was also the same in the battleship that started to pull alongside the cutter to provide assistance. The damage to Panache was moderate and was ordered to return to his base to pickup somebody.

On the Coast Guard Station, John Clark, The Luteces and Jack Ryan were waiting for the vessel that will take them to the lighthouse. They flew in by helicopter a few minutes ago and were surprised to see the condition of Coast Guard cutter it was docked in the pier. Captain Wegener personally met the four when the brow was set in place,

"Nice meeting you again folks, you see we've just been into some big trouble and we got orders to pickup somebody and take them to some lighthouse. And you might find something interesting Mr. Ryan. And who are these two by the way?"

Ryan introduced the Luteces and then they proceeded inside the ship's wardroom. The cutter now sailed for the lighthouse and Jack Ryan handled the briefing.

"We're simply dropping off Mr. Clark near the lighthouse Captain Wegener."

"Uh huh, that seems easy enough... Can I ask what is it for? Is it connected to those airships that attacked us earlier?"

"Yes Captain Wegener, we're sending Mr. Clark there on a reconnaissance mission. That's all I could say."

The Skipper nodded in approval. This was another classified mission by the CIA. And it had to be so important that one of the most important men in the Agency was present. Then Ryan asked him,

"You said there is something interesting in here? What is it?"

"Sir, we picked up some survivors from those airships and they seemed to belong to some military or something. They're locked up in the brig for the meantime anyway."

The five went to the cutter's brig and started to interrogate the survivors of the downed airships as the cutter sailed to a lighthouse off the coast of Maine.


End file.
